appear

ap·pear

verb \ə-ˈpir\

Definition of APPEAR

intransitive verb

1

a : to be or come in sight <the sun appears on the horizon> b : to show up <appears promptly at eight each day>

2

: to come formally before an authoritative body <must appear in court today>

3

: to have an outward aspect : seem <appears happy enough>

4

: to become evident or manifest <there appears to be evidence to the contrary>

5

: to come into public view <first appeared on a television variety show> <the book appeared in print a few years ago>

6

: to come into existence <hominids appeared late in the evolutionary chain>

Examples of APPEAR

1. She appears a nice enough person.
2. Winning the election appears unlikely at this point.
3. One by one, the stars appeared in the sky.
4. The sun began to appear from behind the clouds.
5. The airplanes seemed to appear out of nowhere.
6. The storm disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
7. The cat appears at our kitchen door every morning.
8. One of the guests appeared a few minutes late.
9. He appeared a little before eight last night.

Origin of APPEAR

Middle English apperen, from Anglo-French aparer, aparoir, from Latin apparēre, from ad- + parēre to show oneself

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to APPEAR

Synonyms: come out, materialize, show, show up, turn up, unfold

Antonyms: clear, disappear, dissolve, evanesce, evaporate, fade, go (away), melt (away), vanish

Related Words: reappear, resurface; bulk, loom; arrive, come; dawn, debut; arise, blossom, bob (up), break, break out, crop (up), emerge, erupt, issue, outcrop, rise, shoot (up), spring (up), surface; happen, occur; reappear, rematerialize

Near Antonyms: depart, leave, retire, withdraw

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Rhymes with APPEAR

adhere, Aesir, Ajmer, all clear, ambeer, arrear, Asir, Ayrshire, besmear, by ear, Cape Fear, career, cashier, cashmere, Cheshire, chimere, clavier, cohere, compeer, destrier, dog-ear, emir, Empire, endear, ensphere, eyrir, Fafnir, footgear, frontier, gambier, Goodyear, headgear, inhere, Izmir, Kashmir, kefir, killdeer, Landseer, leap year, life peer, light-year, man-year, menhir, midyear, mishear, monsieur, mouse-ear, mule deer, musk deer, nadir, near beer, New Year, off year, out-year, pickeer, portiere, premier, premiere, red deer, redear, rehear, reindeer, revere, revers, Robespierre, roe deer, root beer, santir, severe, Shakespeare, sincere, slick-ear, small beer, spruce beer, steer clear, Tangier, tapir, tin ear, uprear, Vanir, veneer, Vermeer, vizier, voir dire, wheatear, Wiltshire, wind shear, wood ear, worm gear, Ymir, Yorkshire, zaire, Zaire